Huntik Trilogy. Volume 1 The Battle Against The Specter

Far Away From Home

Dante and Zhalia had arrived in London using false identities and had settled in the secure home of the Huntik base.
Lok and Sophie had reached the couple of seekers about two weeks later with Metz because Zhalia had been taken to a foundation hospital in labor.
Dante was with Zhalia in the delivery room and held her hand. It was hard to tell who was frightened the most.
"Zhalia, you can do it! We've been through a lot of things together!" Dante encouraged her.
Everyone was in the waiting room, even Cherit in Lok's backpack with his head out. His gaze flickered on the coming and going of nurses and doctors.
"But how long does it take?" Lokasked impatiently, rocking in his chair.
"Patience, Lok! These things take time." Cherit commented, turning his eyes elsewhere. "Sophie, look at Metz!"
"He looks anxious, he cannot stay sit for a moment..." the young woman noted.
"Have you notice that every time Zhalia screams, he seems to want to go and see what's going on?"
"My father said he wanted some news as soon as possible, I just hope everything is going right inside there." Lok wished.

In the delivery room, Dante wiped Zhalia's forehead with a towel.
"Hold on, Zhalia." he encouraged her again.
"It's hours that I endure the pain and I cannot stand it anymore!" Zhalia complained shouting. "Tell me it's over!"
"Here she is, a beautiful girl!" the doctorannounced, giving the baby in the arms of Dante who smiled incredulously.
"Zhalia, look!" he exclaimed, handing the baby girl to her. "You did!"
"She's beautiful, Dante!" she smiled trying to sit up and she suddenly twisted into a new grip of pain. "I don't feel well at all."
"Be prepared, the other one must still be born! Who followed your pregnancy had ever told you they were twins?"
"What?!" they both exclaimed surprised.
"Give the girl to the nurses, soon you will be parents again." the doctorsuggested.
A few minutes later another crying radiated into the delivery room and Zhalia held a child in her arms.
"Dante, why don't you take him in your arms?" Zhalia asked, smiling faintly.
"I can't believe it! I'm a father!" the man whispered cradling his newborn son.
"Which names are given to the children?" a nurse who was completing the documentsasked.
"Clara Zhalia and Marcus Dante." Dante announced.
"Surname?"
"Vale." the two new parents answered in chorus.
Dante had to leave the children with the doctors for the check-ups and turned to Zhalia with apprehension. He kissed the back of her hand and wiped her face with a cloth towel.
"The others will be waiting outside, Dante." she told him, relaxing. "Go to them while I try to rest. I will also try to refresh myself."
Dante left the room and was immediately assaulted first by Metz then by Lok and Sophie with Cherit.
"So?"
"It's a boy?"
"It's a girl?"
"What about Zhalia?""
"Both." Dantesmiled leaning against the wall, tried by the experience. "They are twins!"
"What a great news! I'm proud of you Dante!" Metz exclaimed, hugging his protégé.
"Thank you!"
"And Zhalia?" Cherit asked again.
"She's fine. She's resting." Dante reassured him.
"Mr. Vale!" the doctor who had followed the delivery called him.
"Tell me doctor!" Dante joined him.
"Your wife's room is 312."
"Thank you!"
"But Zhalia is not your wife yet!" Lok whispered.
"I know, but she will be it soon!"
They all walked towards the room of Zhalia where they saw her with Marcus in her arms crying.
"You have arrived!" she exclaimed at the height of concern. "I can not make them stop crying. Can someone take Clara?"
Dante took the little girl who was stirring in the cradle to calm her down.
"How come they don't stop crying?" Lok asked, embarrassed.
"I don't know, maybe they're just hungry..." Dante speculated, looking up from his daughter. "Sophie are you okay?" he asked, seeing her tremble.
"He is here!" the girl whispered.
"Zhalia, you won't like it, but you have to get up!" Dante told her.
"Lok, take Marcus or I won't be able to stand up." Zhalia explained as she moved the covers. "Be careful with his head!" she advised.
Dante watched Zhalia standing up with difficulty and then turned to Metz.
"I have an idea: take Clara, I'll take Zhalia."
Dante handed the child to Metz carefully and lifted Zhalia from the ground. Lok took Sophie's hand, who had triggered the alarm, and opened the window, throwing himself out.
Shadow had said he would have been there at Dante's son's birthday and he hadn't forgotten about it; Dante had also taken the titans of Zhalia and gave them to her just outside the hospital.
The group had left the building just in time because there was a loud explosion that destroyed the entire floor of the hospital where Zhalia's room was located.
"That was close!" Lok exclaimed.
"Too close!" Dante corrected him.
The children had calmed down and fell asleep.
Zhalia hugged Dante and sighed.
"Dante, please, let's go home!"
"Fortunately, we live here nearby." he cradled.
"No, Dante! I mean Venice." Zhaliainsisted.
"You're weak and tired. You can't get on an airplane like this!"
"Zhalia is not entirely wrong." Metz whispered to him. "Shadow can appear at any moment and with a Foundation jet we'll be in Venice in a couple of hours. Eathon just wrote to me that he lost contact with one of his seekers who was watching over him."
"This means we are no longer safe." Dante said. "Ok, Metz, you convinced me!"

The flight was quiet with Zhalia and Dante cradling the children who continued to sleep.
At home Dante placed Clara in the cot they had mounted before they left Venice, while Marcus was lying on the sofa.
The days passed slowly, but there was no news of Shadow.
Dante, during a dinner at home with the children who were already asleep, made the decision to talk to Zhalia about a question he had sent back so many times.
"Zhalia..." he hesitated.
"Yes, Dante?"
"I know it's probably not the right time to ask, given the latest events, but..." he took a deep breath.
"You're never so nervous, I can hardly recognize you." she pointed out.
"Will you marry me?" he asked, trying to maintain a state of apparent calm.
"Dante, you don't know how much I've been waiting for you to ask me that!" she replied, laughing amused by that almost unreal situation.
Dante smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

The next day they began to plan the details of the marriage between diapers, rompers, baby bottles and toys.
"Who will you choose as maid of honour?" Dante asked, lying next to Marcus on the sofa with one hand resting on the baby's back.
"I think Sophie. We've become good friends." Zhalia smiled as she cleaned Clara's mouth. "And your best man will be?"
"I am undecided. Metz is my mentor, he raised me, but there is also Lok... I became attached to him."
"And who will bring me to the altar?" Zhalia asked, putting her daughter in the cradle.
"I can't imagine Lok walking with you under his arm..."
"If you want to avoid making me a victim of Lok's inability, why don't you propose to Metz to accompany me?"
"It's a great solution, so Lok will be able to be my best man!"
"Problem solved!" Zhalia smiled, sitting down on the sofa and closing her eyes.
"Yes, but the date?"
"Damn, I don't know..." she jumped up. "We still have to deal with other matters like: handing out invitations, calling who is away, the food, the music..."
"In two weeks it should be fine, don't you think?"
"If we involve Sophie and Lok too." Zhalia specified.

Days had passed since Dante and Zhalia had started talking about their marriage.
It was early afternoon when someone knocked on Vale's front door. Cherit was back with Sophie and Lok.
"Zhalia, you and I are going to the tailor for the dress, now!" Sophieannounced.
"Now? I can't leave the twins and Dante alone!"
"There will be Lok and Cherit!" she retorted, pulling her by the arm and closing the door behind her, without giving Zhalia time to reply.
Dante remained with Lok to speak holding Marcus lying on his legs, while Cherit had the tail imprisoned in the hands of Clara, lying on the couch.
"Lok, tell me something. You and Sophie look happy together."
"Yes, but since we are just over twenty years old I'm afraid to really declare myself..." Lok sighed.
"You don't know how she can react, am I right?"
"Yeah. Between you and Zhalia it has been easier! You were twenty-eight when you started declaring yourself and you are adults with job careers started. I still have my rent paid from my parents."
"It hasn't been as simple as you think... Zhalia's past occasionally comes back and our daughter is her spitting image."
"Except for the eyes..." Cherit pointed out without ever being able to attract the attention of the two seekers.
"So Zhalia, with Shadow in circulation, is afraid of the baby girl?" Lok asked.
"Not just for her, but also for Marcus. She doesn't want them to go through what happened to her. Her childhood persecutes her and moreover she has never told me everything."
The front door opened and Sophie and Zhalia entered.
"We're back!" Sophie said, satisfied.
Zhalia was tired and dropped onto the couch next to Dante
"Excuse me Zhalia, would you give me a hand?" Cherit asked worried because Clara was squeezing his tail.
"You are here talking. Haven't you thought about helping Cherit who is twenty centimeters from you?" Zhaliaasked surprised, freeing him from the hands of the little girl who didn't stop laughing.
"In exactly three days you'll get married. Isn't that magnificent?" Sophie asked.
Dante and Zhalia smiled then looked at the laughing children.
"Are we going to do it for real?" Zhalia asked. "Do we really need it? Actually, we already have them."
Dante put his hand on her back.
"Let's officialize this reality!"
Zhalia leaned against Dante and fell asleep.
"Let her sleep." Sophie smiled at Dante. "You need rest too. Lok and I will take care of the twins tonight."
"Thank you."
Dante held Zhalia close to him and led her to sleep.
"This marriage has put a lot of stress on you. We are doing well for being new parents." Dante wrapped Zhalia in the blanket. "I'm glad you're by my side."
Zhalia clung to Dante's shirt and continued to sleep, letting him lie down beside her.